Summoning Problems
by AnotherBoringUsername
Summary: Izuku develops an inconvenient quirk. Hisashi Midoriya is not prepared.


It recently occurred to me that I never posted this here. So, here's my entry for a long-done Dad For One contest, cross-posted from AO3. And since some lovely commenters seem curious - I may add more to this AU in the future, but no promises. For now it is a completed oneshot. I do have some ideas for that prospective future, at least!

* * *

Most of the time, All for One would say it started with Izuku's fourth birthday when his quirk came in.

If he were honest with himself, it started long before that. Long days and longer nights away from home were common enough before his son's birth. He couldn't help that they grew more frequent after - his enemies grew more vicious with every passing day, and his underlings more incompetent. During Izuku's first two years, he'd creep home silently to avoid waking a sleeping toddler, and leave before Izuku woke up after an early-morning coffee with his lovely wife; lately, his stealth was just as much for the purpose of not waking his sleeping wife, and he left after changing clothes.

He still had the video Inko had sent him of Izuku refusing to be put to bed because he wanted to "say goodnight to Dad." He'd watched it so many times when Inko first sent it that he had it memorized. He didn't watch it any more. He wasn't certain if his son knew he had a father at this point.

Most of the time, he'd say his work was important. If he didn't constantly work to keep his enemies at bay, they'd be on his family's doorstep in a heartbeat. And while his plans necessitated a certain amount of societal upheaval and chaos, at least his son would eventually live in a society not dominated by idiotic government policies and filled with even more idiotic "heroes". (Hopefully by then his son would have outgrown the hero phase that necessitated the purchase of those eye-searing onesies.) His son might never thank him, but ensuring his family's safety and long-term happiness was enough.

If he were honest with himself… well, he simply _couldn't_ be. If he'd ever bothered with honesty, he'd have told All Might to screw off already, ditched the plans he'd worked on for so many years, taken his family to some remote country, and settled down where he could peacefully enjoy the company of his beautiful wife and his son's blinding smile.

* * *

Of course, that was before Izuku's fourth birthday. He'd actually scheduled time for once to attend the birthday party Inko had planned, but as usual, he was forced to cancel due to unexpected circumstances. Therefore, rather than enjoying the rare occasion of seeing his son, he was currently sitting in a drafty hideout miles from home with far worse company.

"You've disappointed me," All for One told the man before him.

It produced the desired effect; the man trembled, eyes darting about in a futile attempt to find an escape route. He was far from finished, however.

"Your miserable incompetence has been far more costly to me than you know. Never mind the money and resources - I have far more important things to spend my time doing than fixing the damages you caused with your moronic blunders." Like attending his son's fourth birthday party, but this simpleton didn't need to know that.

"I - I'm sorry!" the criminal whimpered. "I'll repay you! I can fix this, I -"

"You actually expect me to trust you with anything after this?" His smile was all teeth and no mirth. "I think you should be more concerned about whether you will -"

"Dad! You're home!"

"- leave this room alive… What the f-"

"Language, dear!"

If someone could explain to him how he was currently standing in a room full of four-year-olds shepherded by his wife (who was currently shooting him a warning glare), when a moment before he'd been menacing his failure of a minion, he'd very much appreciate it.

… It could wait a few minutes, though. His son had wrapped himself around his leg, and it would be too much effort to extract himself. Surely a few minutes' delay wouldn't hurt.

* * *

Summon. Izuku's quirk was called "Summon". Inko said it was nigh-identical to her great uncle's quirk, from which she got the name. The quirk's basic use allowed Izuku to instantly warp someone he knew to his location. While of course the exact details of the quirk were so far untested, it seemed easier to use on people Izuku knew well. Inko told him in a whisper while Izuku squealed over an All Might themed cake (ugh) that she'd been teleported five times already that morning, and the Bakugou brat had appeared unexpectedly a full hour before the party to his own confusion and his parents' panic.

It was a convenient quirk for the user, and All for One couldn't help but want to get his hands on it. Transmission was the closest quirk he possessed, with Warp Gate being a close second; however, not only was Izuku's quirk instantaneous (an instantaneous warp quirk - how incredibly useful), but it also dealt with warping people to himself rather than warping himself or others to a target (whether people or far-from-inconspicuous portals). Taking the quirk now would be messy, though. Inko would ask questions about why Izuku couldn't use his quirk, never mind the Bakugou family who were already aware of it. All for One wasn't ready to tell Inko about his original quirk, and somehow he doubted that she'd be particularly happy with him… borrowing Izuku's quirk for his business. A meaningful look had already given him notice that she had questions about what he'd said following his unexpected teleport.

It was probably best that he leave as soon as the party was over, for… reasons.

* * *

He chose to leave before parents started trickling in to pick up the rest of their spawn. He'd managed to get back to the confused underling and… _deal_ with the situation; he may have been in a better mood, but he didn't need questions about his mysteriously abrupt departure. The man wouldn't be missed anyway, his preparations prior to the meeting had ensured that much.

Disposing of the remains and repairing the damages took most of the afternoon. All for One had just finished cleaning up (thankfully) when, once again, he found himself staring at the walls of his family residence rather than the dingy walls of the warehouse he had stopped at for a fresh suit.

"It's dinnertime, Dad!"

Unprepared as he was for the sudden shift in his surroundings, it was all he could do to mutely pat his son's curly head with a budding realization that this quirk could be as inconvenient for everyone else as it was convenient for the user.

"Hello, Izuku." Inconvenient as it was, he was truly blessed to see Izuku's blinding grin so many times in one day.

"Dad! Missing dinner isn't good for you! Mom says so. Come eat!"

"Hisashi? Welcome home, I'll set an extra place!"

He'd deal with this later. Dinner was waiting for him.

* * *

After dinner, Izuku ran off to play with a new All Might action figure (once again, ugh), which left him with Inko. It was too late when he remembered why he had left so abruptly earlier.

"So, Hisashi, would you like to explain what was so much more important than Izuku's birthday party?" Inko said in her sweetest tones.

"I, uh…"

She sighed. "You don't have to tell me. It's more important to talk about Izuku's quirk, anyway."

"Yes! His quirk." A subject much easier than explaining obvious threats of murder. "What a fascinating quirk. Do you think that -"

"More importantly," Inko interrupted, "he's already very fond of using his quirk, and that means you need to make sure a situation like earlier doesn't happen, _dear_."

Ah. That made sense. And would be incredibly difficult - if he had even a few seconds of warning, he had speed quirks that would allow him to ditch anything incriminating and be ready to greet Izuku, or if he could _block_ the quirk somehow… A foresight quirk or a quirk blocker? He'd never looked for the latter because his own quirk functioned perfectly well to disable quirks…

"Once the initial excitement of discovering his quirk dies down, he'll probably use it less frequently," he murmured. Then he could take the quirk himself. Izuku would barely know it was missing; it wasn't the sort of quirk a person would use every day, after all.

"And what do you plan to do until then?"

"Er… I'll figure something out. It won't happen again."

She patted his hand; it felt more warning than affectionate.

"Just as a precaution, love, do you think you could talk to him about not using it on me while I'm at work?" he asked.

"You're home now. You're his father. Why don't you try talking to him for once?"

That was… fair enough. He could spare a few more hours. Probably.

* * *

Izuku was a bright child, but there were some things that were difficult to explain to explain to a four-year-old.

"But Dad! Eating dinner is important! Mom said so!"

"Dads don't need dinner as much as growing children." All for One rubbed his temples. Winning arguments without using his typical intimidation tactics was more difficult than he remembered. He was out of practice.

"That doesn't sound right." Izuku frowned. "You're big so you need more food."

"My work is very important, Izuku," he tried.

"More important than Mom and me?"

"... Fine. Izuku, you can summon me once a day - for dinner, if you like - but you have to have your mother let me know so I can be ready. How does that sound?"

"Yay!" Izuku hugged his leg. "Mom! Dad says he'll be home for dinner!"

"That's lovely, honey," Inko called from the kitchen where she was washing up.

"Just remember to tell your mother first so she can text me, okay?"

"Kay! Can you put me to bed tonight?"

"Just this once, then." Surely nothing would burn down if he took a little more time here. He picked up Izuku - _so small and fragile and light, he had to be careful_ \- and carried him toward his room.

* * *

The system worked surprisingly well. Inko would text him that Izuku was about to summon him, and he'd have a few seconds to clean up and find a secluded area before he appeared at home where dinner with his family awaited him, after which he'd eat before heading back to whatever location he had hastily vacated. It was… nice, even if Izuku occasionally forgot to have Inko text and All for One unexpectedly found himself in a location different from the one he'd been occupying previously. There was nothing _quite_ like turning around in the middle of a drug deal and finding Mitsuki Bakugou's face inches from his, and the resulting screaming match as he whisked Izuku out the door had him plotting to ensure a building landed on her makeup business. Entirely by accident, of course.

A voice in the back of his head argued that Izuku's enthusiasm over his quirk would never waver at this rate, but… he was a patient man. He could wait, both for Izuku's quirk usage and his All Might obsession to die down. Not that either seemed to be happening, he realized as Izuku's fifth birthday passed (the entire thing was All Might themed; if Izuku hadn't used his quirk to ensure his presence, he might have found somewhere else to be.)

Work was as busy as ever. So many buffoons to deal with - if he hadn't seen the state of the government and the heroes, he'd swear the world's incompetents gravitated toward crime; but he was well aware that they had multiple preferred fields. Truly, he was surrounded by idiots. Seeing his beautiful family in the evenings certainly helped his state of mind - his stress never melted away so fast as when he held his tiny son in his arms - but it also gave him a deadline every day by which he must finish anything particularly messy.

Like today, for example. Normally messy forms of torture were unnecessary, but this was a rather… unique case. In this persona, his cover quirk was a flashy mutant-type (useful for disguise); having the current subject's (fascinating and _useful_) quirk "disappear" would raise unnecessary questions. Fortunately, the man's quirk was activated by touching the target with all five of his fingertips (a rather common form of activation), so it wouldn't be missed if a few fingers were removed. And the man had given him excellent reason to do so. It would be a crime _not_ to avail himself of the opportunity.

When the screams abruptly went silent, All for One wondered for a split second if he should have checked for heart problems beforehand. It was only when he noticed that the sound had been replaced with the chatter of children's voices that he realized the true problem.

"Oh, f... fudge." After blinking at the _preschool classroom_ for a moment, he stuffed the _human fingers_ he was holding into his pocket. The teacher's mouth was hanging open, and so were several children's. The room fell silent as more children noticed his presence.

"I told you!" Izuku's voice rang out in the new quiet. "My quirk is Summon Dad!" _Awww._ Wait, not the time to be cooing over his adorable son.

The teacher's mouth opened and closed. Quick, he had to do damage control. _Fuck._

"Sorry, Izuku, you caught me in the middle of… of filming. A movie."

"You make movies, Dad?"

"Definitely. Don't you remember me telling you last week?"

"But -"

He was about to ruffle his son's hair, but quickly remembered the blood and kept his hands safely in his pockets. "What did we say about telling your mother before you summon me?"

Izuku's face fell. "Sorry. I forgot. They kept saying my quirk was stupid but it _isn't_ and I wanted to show them. Are you mad at me?"

"What idiot said that?" he growled. "Anyone with half a brain would be _dying_ to have an instantaneous warp quirk. It's the rarest class of quirks and their usual weakness is that they're slow-acting; yours is -"

"Sir," the teacher said, having apparently found her breath, "whether or not that's… fake… I don't think it's appropriate for children. We have a bathroom down the hall…" She gave a wobbly, transparently fake smile.

"I'll just leave," he muttered.

A broom closet and a Warp Gate ensured that no more small children spotted him in his current state.

* * *

Even if Inko _hadn't_ been more angry than he'd ever seen her after hearing from Izuku and the teacher about the incident, the situation in itself would've probably inspired him to start working on distancing himself from his usual operations, anyway.

Probably. Inko's fury alone was quite enough.

"I'm sorry! Really! It won't happen again!" he yelped. So very, very sorry.

"If Izuku tells me you showed up covered in _blood_ again, Hisashi, you will be _missing_ internal organs the next time you show up here while Izuku isn't present," she hissed. "I haven't asked about your job. I don't want to know. But this is too far."

"I'll make sure! I'm sorry, I thought it would be fine -"

"You relied on the belief that _your son_ wouldn't want to use his quirk at an unexpected moment. As though you weren't breathing fire every chance you got when we were dating."

"I'm an idiot and I'm sorry." If she wasn't holding his tie in a death-grip, he'd be doing a dogeza right now.

"You'd better be. Now, will you, or will you not, ensure that your son does not see you in that condition?"

"I promise!"

"Fine." She glaringly let go of him. "I'll talk to the teacher about your 'movie' job, and you'd better hope to heaven Izuku doesn't ask to see movies starring his father in the future. Next time, you'll be explaining yourself to the teacher - and Izuku - from the hospital."

In all his life, he had yet to meet someone more terrifying than his wife on the warpath. Scared as he was, he had to admit (silently, lest she decide to change her mind about _next time_) that she was beautiful when she was threatening to eviscerate a man.

* * *

As much as he preferred a hands-on approach to his line of work, he was a flexible man who could adapt to the changing times. Inadequate as his underlings often were when it came to anything requiring the most basic of common sense, enough of them were fanatically loyal enough to at least trust with simple instructions. He'd even managed to find a quirkless fellow with a working brain who was overly-grateful to receive Warp Gate (he was reluctant to give it up, but the allegiance of a person with a modicum of intelligence was worth the price). With that, he found it easier to delegate tasks. Setting up a proper system for secure virtual transmissions was his next task, but once done, he could text or e-mail orders, which ensured he wouldn't be caught saying anything undesirable when summoned.

Some things, however, still needed a personal touch. It was a stroke of luck to find the Shimura brat crying in a deserted location; having someone else take over immediately after picking him up would ruin the effect. Which meant he needed to get children's clothes and shoes before dropping him off with a decent babysitter. Much as he hated to inflict the brat on his one competent underling, he didn't really have a lot of options when it came to child rearing. _He_ certainly wasn't going to do it.

He thought he had all the time he needed; it was past Izuku's bedtime, after all. But as he sorted through the children's t-shirts for something that didn't have a hero's face on it, he found himself bumping his shins on his son's bed, Izuku's sobs reaching his ears.

"Izuku, what's wrong?" he asked frantically, crouching at his son's bedside and dropping the hoodie he'd been carrying next to it. Shimura brat? What Shimura brat? His son was _crying_.

"Nightmare," Izuku whimpered.

He gathered his son into his arms. "Shhh, you're safe here," he whispered.

"You got really hurt," Izuku sobbed. "You were all covered in blood like when you were working on that movie and -"

"Shhh."

No wonder Inko hadn't wanted Izuku to see him like that again. He held his son tighter as the door creaked open and a sliver of light shown on the wall beside him.

"Mom," Izuku hiccuped.

"I thought I heard something," Inko whispered from the door. "Nightmare, honey?"

Izuku nodded against his shoulder. Inko came farther into the room and mechanically picked up the dropped hoodie - and then paused, examining it closely. She reached over and stroked Izuku's hair over his shoulder, and then gripped All for One's shoulder with a vice grip, the hoodie held in her other hand. "Izuku, sweetie, would you like a cup of hot chocolate in the living room? You can watch an episode of Mighty Man while you drink it."

Izuku nodded again. Most of the time, All for One would have cringed at letting his son consume more of the hero drivel that dominated cartoons these days, but he was too worried about the glint in Inko's eye to care at the moment.

"Alright, sweetie, I'll get you set up. I need to borrow your father for a bit."

"Okay," Izuku said. The reluctance in his tone made All for One hesitant to let go, but Inko nearly dragged him to the kitchen barely a moment after he'd deposited Izuku in the most comfortable lounge chair.

She put the hoodie aside and stomped around the kitchen as she heated the milk for the hot chocolate, not saying a word.

"What's wrong, Inko?" he asked when the silence grew too overpowering.

She clenched her jaw and took a deep breath before hurrying out of the room with a steaming cup of hot chocolate. The sounds of a cheesy cartoon had started from the living room a few seconds before she returned and had his tie in another death-grip. _Uh oh._

"Would you care to explain why you have _another child's clothes_, Mr. 'Always Away At Work'?" she hissed. "And don't try to tell me it's for Izuku, it's far too big for him. Our family isn't enough for you?"

Oh fuck, so that's why she was upset. "What? No! That's… that's not it! It's not what you think! I -"

"Well then, _dear_," she said levelly, "we are going to have a nice long chat about why exactly you are out every night and what you've been up to all this time. _Every. Last. Detail._"

With anyone else, he might've lied or decided to cut his losses and run. But Inko… she would know, she always _had_ known when he was hiding things. Even if she didn't press, she always knew. And there was no running from Izuku's Summon.

There was always his usual way of silencing inconveniences… but this was his _family_. Hadn't… hadn't he been working to give them a better world?

Giving up, All for One followed her to his room to tell her everything - well, almost everything - before she inevitably removed several internal organs on her way to kicking him out the door.

* * *

Inko took things surprisingly well, considering his organs were intact afterward. She'd insisted he bring the Shimura brat home, which was a blight on his house, but it was an excellent exchange for being allowed back in. All for One's main task before he was allowed to stop sleeping on the couch, however, was to find a way to transfer from criminal activity to above-board work as soon as possible, but even she understood that it was a process. Accordingly, he had a deadline set for a couple months away, after which he was officially retired from villainy. Well, it was better than the alternative; he didn't want to see what Inko would do to him if he missed it.

Dealing with his many enemies was his most important issue; couldn't have them coming after his family in his retirement. All Might was the most problematic of the lot. The rest weren't nearly so terrifyingly successful in tracking every loose end he thought he'd buried. Whittling them down took surprisingly little effort, now that he had adequate incentive and no reason to try utilize them in his future schemes. Even easier was distancing himself from his other operations. He'd already been delegating quite a bit, and while his plans wouldn't advance without him, it was easy to ensure the criminal underworld wouldn't immediately descend into chaos in his absence, either. Of course chaos was inevitable, but it wouldn't be his problem by then, would it?

So now his main problem was All Might, as usual.

Hmm, what better way to start his retirement than publicly defeating his most hated enemy? Maybe it would even help Izuku rethink his hero worship. The boy was six, after all - old enough to find more intelligent interests.

* * *

_I may have miscalculated,_ he thought as All Might rushed at him with typical brute viciousness.

He wasn't losing, of course. But All Might was sturdier than he'd given the ape credit for. Tossed through several buildings, and the man still had the energy to move a screaming child out of harm's way and smash through the follow-up building heading his direction. At least the cameras hovered high above, ready to capture the moment when All Might finally faced a public, humiliating defeat - All for One had ensured they were tipped off beforehand, so the government couldn't cover it up.

"So persistent, All Might," he said through the mask that hid his face (All Might knew his appearance, but no one else did; the cameras didn't need _that_ much.) "I'm sorry to end this so soon, but I do have a dinner appointment to attend."

"I'm afraid you'll be missing it," All Might growled, and deflected the building All for One had levitated in his direction. Easy enough to dodge, he thought, a moment before he dodged directly into a piece of debris that somehow managed to knock the thrice-damned mask away from his face. This is what he got for not investing in higher quality equipment, he supposed. In his attempt to catch it before the cameras found a better angle to broadcast his features to the world - which would be disastrous for obvious reasons - he failed to notice the rather large piece of concrete descending from above until it was too late. There wasn't time to activate a quirk; he'd just have to try to dodge it and hope for the best -

He stopped himself just before he rammed into the living room wall, and small arms went around him. "Dad! You're safe!"

"... Izuku?"

"I'm sorry," Izuku said through tears. "But I was worried 'cause the TV says there was a villain attack and you said you had business today and you wouldn't answer the phone when Mom called and -"

"And he wouldn't shut up till I told him to just warp you back like he always does," the Shimura - er, Tenko Midoriya called from the sofa. _Brat._

All for One picked up Izuku and buried his face in his son's hair. "I'm fine. I'm safe." Not even a scratch, thanks to Izuku removing him from the path of a large chunk of concrete.

In the background, from the TV, he could hear the excited reporter's commentary. "We couldn't see through the cloud of dust, folks, but I don't think anyone could live through a building being dropped on them! All Might has won yet again! I don't think I've seen this much damage since -"

_Click._ The channel changed to some cartoon. Tenko set down the remote and folded his arms. Maybe he should warp back with Transmission and finish -

No. He was home now. Today was the deadline; he'd _promised_ Inko. He'd ensured there was nothing that All Might could trace back to his family. Most people would assume he was dead, especially after seeing a building dropped on him. And - he still had his information sources. If All Might started asking the wrong questions, he'd be informed immediately.

Until then, he was _done_. With any luck, it would last for as long as his family lived. He hugged Izuku closer.

"Inko, I'm home," Hisashi called. For good this time, he hoped.


End file.
